Canada has relaxed the rules for awarding temporary visas to skilled French-speaking workers outside of Quebec.

From June 1st, any company wishing to hire skilled French-speaking workers in minority Francophone communities will not need a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

The LMIA is designed to confirm whether Canadians are available to fill a vacancy before it can be offered to an immigrant.

The initiative, called Mobilité Francophone, creates a new temporary work permit stream under the International Mobility Program.

What the LMIA considers

The wages and working conditions being offered to the foreign worker

The availability of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to do the work in question

Whether a transfer of useful knowledge and skills would result from hiring the foreign worker

Whether hiring the foreign worker will help create jobs for Canadian citizens and permanent residents

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it consulted extensively with communities across the country before creating and launching the new policy.

“Immigration, both temporary and permanent, has a role to play in supporting vital, vibrant Francophone minority communities anywhere across Canada,” said Immigration Minister John McCallum.

“Mobilité Francophone benefits the employers, the newcomers and the minority communities and it enhances our diverse nation.”

McCallum hopes the immigrants who come in on the temporary permit are able to gain Canadian work experience with a view to becoming permanent residents under the Express Entry system.

He added: “That’s why we’re going to encourage skilled francophone workers to come to Canada and settle in communities outside of Quebec, and we’re going to encourage them to apply for permanent residence if they would like to stay.”

“The implementation of Mobilité Francophone is very good news, since the specific objective is to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants settling in our communities,” said Sylviane Lanthier, president of the Fédération des Communautés Francophones et Acadienne (FCFA).

The goal of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is to have francophone newcomers make up at least 4 per cent of all economic immigrants settling outside of Quebec by 2018. The overall target for francophone immigration outside Quebec is 4.4 per cent by 2023.

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